So everyone gets guidance this week from Barry Manilow. I guess I’m the only guy in the world who still thinks he sucks. I’m not all that impressed with Stevie Wonder, either. Maybe I’m the wrong guy to be recapping American Idol. I think they should put Pearl Jam on there. (Just kidding). Nobody cries when Manilow shows up. They’re probably thinking about principals raiding his wardrobe and trying not to crack up. Or maybe that’s just what I’m doing.

Mandisa will sing “I Don’t Hurt Anymore” by Dina Washington. She’s awesome as usual and hits all the big notes. In fact, the song gets bigger and bigger until she’s absolutely WAILING. Wow, she can sing. This is a triumph. Mandisa has yet to have a bad performance or bad song choice. The crowd goes ON AND ON with the applause. Finally Randy has time to say he’s speechless. Paula calls her flawless. Simon says Mandisa is sexy and he absolutely loved it. Then Seacrest offers his homage by AGAIN questioning Mandisa about her shoes. This is bizarre. The dude has a foot fetish, which is fine and dandy, but don’t tell it on national TV.

COPY CAT! That is a great commercial.

It’s wise to show Chicken Little ads during American Idol.

Bucky will bring the Buddy Holly with “Oh Boy.” That’s exactly the right song for him. The vocal is flat, but who couldn’t love the way he throws the microphone around. Some things about Bucky’s voice are cool, but his performance is mostly lackluster and lifeless. He ends on the hillbilly high note. Randy and Paula liked it and thought it was fun. Simon calls it a pointless karaoke performance and I agree. I like Bucky, but there’s no way I’m going to cast pity votes for him like Kevin’s fans do. I think this dude’s done this week.

Paris is doing (SIGH) “Fever.” Man, I hate this song. Our local show choir performs it at civic functions and it is annoying. Speaking of annoying, The Chosen One shamelessly brags on her own voice. She is back in the Estefan dress, sans jeans. You know, her vocals are outstanding, but her personality is irritating. She seems to try far too hard to be cute. She performs a GREAT key change. Speaking of people I hate, there’s Constantine Maroulis in the audience, looking smug and thinking he’s the shit. Randy says Paris “blew it out of the box” and I’m thinking of Han Solo from the Star Wars Gangsta Rap (“knock ‘em out the box Luke, knock ‘em out”). Paula says it was impeccable. Simon loved it too.

Chris is going to sing “Walk the Line” by JOHNNY CASH (YES!). This should be awesome. Barry Manilow is obviously uncomfortable in the presence of great music, as well he should be. FEAR CASH, SISSY! Chris is going to try the song with a new arrangement and is quickly distancing himself as the only real artist in the whole pack. He really does his own thing. He’s on stage in FULL BLACK in homage to the Man in Black and I would totally buy this rendition in a heartbeat. I can’t even describe how awesome it is. Cash probably would have loved it. It KICKS ASS in every way and has genuine pathos. I’m now a believer in Chris. I’m shaking my head in disbelief at how moving and intense this song is. He turns all of us on our heads by making it a full-on rocker at the end. The crowd flips out and absolutely loves it. They won’t shut up. It was powerful indeed. Chris has this look like, “Whether the judges like it or not, I’M satisfied to have done this, and that’s what matters.” YEAH! Randy and Paula praise him for being so true to himself. Simon says it’s not the best vocal but it doesn’t matter – Chris is the first person ever on the show who refuses to compromise. What a performance. Chris has to be a frontrunner now (and probably always has been). I can’t say enough about how great this was.

Katharine will sing Ella Fitzgerald’s “Come Rain or Come Shine.” It’s hard to know how to take Katharine. Is she joking? Serious? Cynical? Sincere? She’s difficult to read. Regardless, she’s tremendously beautiful. She’s going to sing this song for an anonymous dude out there somewhere. She comes onstage with a feline walk and I believe her when she tells me she is going to love ME like nobody’s loved me. Her little falsetto notes are outstanding. This performance is sexy, confident, free, and real. It’s effortless and pitch perfect, which is saying a LOT for an Ella Fitzgerald song. She absolutely glows. Randy can’t even talk because the audience is positively hysterical and continues applauding. The judges loved it. Simon: “Tonight, you turned into a star.” Right on.

Taylor is now “The Silver Fox,” according to Seacrest. He’s the ninja cyborg from Metal Gear?! That’s great! “Not Fade Away” by Buddy Holly is a good Taylor song. Barry Manilow reminds me of Chris Walken, but only when Walken is playing a smug record exec. Taylor creeps onto the stage and the performance is almost a joke, but it’s so damn fun. Paula does the serpentine jig of infinite seduction and Taylor dances with some rogue sax player who storms the stage. HEY SAX MAN – that’s a NINJA you’re dealing with. Watch it! I laugh out loud, in a good way, at Taylor because he’s running all over the place and being cool. You know, Taylor is fun and all, but nothing he’s done has even been in the same league as “Levon” in Week 1. Again the audience freaks out with adoration. Randy and Paula loved it and Taylor braces for Simon who says, “Sorry, but…(BOOOOOOO!!! from the audience)…if this was the first time someone had seen your performance out of context, they would have thought it was a mess.” That’s really true, actually. Taylor assures us he brought the party because that’s what the 50s were – a big party. Cool. Then Paula and Simon almost go to fists over whether Taylor is good or not. Seacrest says Taylor is a cross between George Clooney, Jay Leno and Phil Donahue. That was mean.

I just realized all my favorites have performed, so I hope the show doesn’t go downhill.

My fears are confirmed when Lisa does “Why do Fools Fall in Love.” She’s gone back to the 80s frizz hair, has a huge bangle and pedal-pushers. In fact, she looks just like Baby on Dirty Dancing. NOBODY PUTS LISA IN A CORNER! It’s a good performance, but not gripping. It’s kind of like a lame pageant performance. Eh. She may end up in the bottom three again. Randy says it was just alright. Simon says it was like a high school musical.

Alright, let me pause and praise that Diet Coke commercial where the dude runs back to his date and plants a big kiss on her. That’s an awesome ad. You know why? I’m sick of all these commercials that portray men as gutless, balding, stupid, fat, food-crazed, sports maniacs who only can act uncouth. Here is a commercial, finally, in which a guy rocks. He has balls. I like that.

Kevin…bleh. “When I Fall in Love” is supposed to win us over. Zzzzzzzz. Barry gave Kevin the wrong advice when he told him to be “more innocent.” It comes out extra dorky. He has his hand in his pocket during the entire performance. This guy’s a joke. Lame as hell. Of course the judges patronize him. Jeez. I won’t even waste my time.

Elliot looks like an office worker who’s gone to the bar after work without changing. The goatee is cool, though. His rendition of “Teach Me Tonight” is good. He joins me in the “doesn’t dig Barry Manilow in the slightest” club. Barry wants Elliot to “caress the song.” See, that’s exactly why we think Barry sucks. Don’t do it, Elliot! I just don’t know what to think about Elliot. He’s good, I guess, but just not what I like. The judges loved it. I just don’t get it.

Kellie chooses a winner with “Walkin’ After Midnight.” Manilow’s NEVER HEARD the song. WTF?! Even so, Kellie needed Manilow to expertly interpret this super-challenging, complex lyric for her and tell her it’s a sad song. She’s wearing the wrong outfit for singing Patsy Cline. She still looks like Dolly with the caked-on makeup. It’s a pretty good rendition, actually, except she indeed gets the tone wrong and sings it exactly as she sang “I’m the Only One,” complete with the dramatic fall to her knees. Her microphone dies right after she sings. Paula calls her a tigress. Simon says it was ballsy and sexy. Well okay.

Ace will try to save himself from elimination with “In the Still of the Night.” Hmmm. Both Barry and I are nervous about this proposed “jazzy version.” Ace is so weird. He curls his lip and hem-haws before FINALLY letting loose with a big note, and it’s good. He seems to mince his words a bit and ends in a big ol’ falsetto. Randy says Ace is back. Paula calls it the sultriest performance of that song ever. Simon says it wasn’t Ace’s best vocal (Crowd: “BOOOOOO!!!!!”) BUT it was a lot better than last week. Dig that crazy girl in an ACE beanie.

This was an awesome show. Chris and Katharine outshone everyone. The bottom three will be Lisa, Bucky and Kevin (or at least should be). Not sure who’s going home.

1. Mandisa kicks off the show by blowing the roof off the joint. So much power, such a voice. Solid as usual. Great way to kick off the show, and it already feels a lot better than last week. And I do believe Simon made the girl blush, which is very impressive.

2. Next up Bucky. Ugh. Maybe it was the song, maybe it was just the limited talent of him, but it was boring. The video package before the performance was awesome, but just helped appreciate the band, and not him at all.

3. Paris was up and did "Fever" it felt weird seeing her sing that song, but she brought it. My like for her went up this week. Good job Paris.

4. Chris rocked the damn house, again. And he had he most original performance, again. Nothing else to say about a terrific performance, and I love how he didn't try to sing it like Johnny. I think based on that, he's one of Simon's Favorites.

5. Katharine was so gorgeous, and she is such a sexy peformer. She sounds great, and looks even better...I just can't find the words to say how I appreciate her singing, but I think Simon said it best, she's "Special".

6. Taylor...another guy who struggled with a Buddy Holly song, it just didn't fit, and thought Simon nailed the criticism.

7. Lisa needed to show a rebound from her bottom 3 appearance last week....and she failed. It just wasn't there. I think her and Bucky have 2/3 of the bottom three secured, but I hope not.

8. Kevin, I don't even bother listening any more, he's just bad. It's painful to watch him perform, and I just wish he'd go home.

9. Elliott came out sporting a new look, helping hide his weird looking mouth. The thing he didn't change however, was the way he sings. Dude brought it again tonight, and chose a song that fit him like a glove, great night for Elliott.

10. Kellie...if you don't know already, I don't like her. I don't pretend to like her, as I think she's a less talented & less attractive version of Carrie Underwood. But yet here she is. I told Cara I bet she'd do a Patsy Cline song "because Patsy Cline sings country like me and I'm a ditsy hick, hehe". And sure enough, she sings Patsy Cline. It wasn't good, but not the worst performance either (Thanks Bucky, thanks Kevin, Thanks Lisa). Amazing is the ability she does have from turning into sultry blonde the performer to dumb innocent blonde the performer.

11. Ace....he did something that is usually not advised, trying to do a solo version of a group song. But he brought it. The beginning maybe was rough, but he smoothed it out, and ended it on a high note.

So all in all, I got em ranked like this: 1.Chris 2.Katharine3.Elliott4.Mandisa5.Ace6.Paris7.Taylor8.Lisa9.Kellie10.Kevin11.Bucky

....with the bottom three (because it's not like America votes on talent being Lisa, Bucky & Kevin...with Lisa or Bucky watching their journey on Idol to end tomorrow night.

Mandisa - you know she was great but for some reason she just doesn't get me excited. I just can't ever see me wanting to buy an album by this chick. Good job but I'm not totally into her.

Bucky - Horrible. He just isn't that good and I'm not sure how he made it this far. Seems like a decent guy, but he can't sing.

Paris - I'm not as into her as I was at first, but I do think she put on a great show. This is the perfect music for her. Very nice.

Chris - Jesus this kid is amazing. Just an unbelievable take on that song. I don't know if the fan girls will vote him to win it all, but I so want him to now. I keep thinking these themes are gonna kill him and he blows it away.

Katharine - You know she's just really beautiful. And she does have a great voice. But her personality is kinda strange. I get the vibe that she'd be a total bitch diva if she makes it big. I have no clue why I think that, just do. She did good, but I'm not sure what I think of her overall right now.

Taylor - He's entertaining, but not blowing me away. Again, not someone I think has a real shot at winning, but I did enjoy the performance.

Lisa - She's just so boring. I know she has a good voice and is trying hard, but she's blah. She's about 20 years too late for her image.

Kevin - Now he kinda shocked me this week. He wasn't amazing, but he wasn't half bad with that song. He still has zero shot, but I think he saved himself for another week.

Elliot - I worry about this guy. Cause I absolutly love his voice, but I just don't know if the rest of America will. He doesn't have the look and he's strange on stage. But he did a solid job yet again. He needs songs that show off his vocals more.

Kellie - Now she looked retarded with that makeup job, but wow did she put on a good performance. Best job of singing she's done yet.

Ace - I now understand why he was in the bottom three. It's like he's trying too hard. His voice is ok, but I don't know. I think he set the bar so high with his George Michael that everything else has been downhill since.

Overall, I'd say Lisa or Bucky are very likely to be gone, with maybe ...I hate to say this...Elliot in the bottom three with them. He doesn't deserve it, but it may happen due to appeal factor. Just going on how I think the typical person who votes might go.

Yeah, apparently there's a lot of controversy today around the Web about Chris seemingly claiming to have arranged the song, even though Live did it first. I may have been fooled. Part of my gushing about Chris was my assumption he arranged the song. It is tarnished a bit for me, now.

Originally posted by Parts UnknownSo everyone gets guidance this week from Barry Manilow. I guess I’m the only guy in the world who still thinks he sucks. I’m not all that impressed with Stevie Wonder, either. Maybe I’m the wrong guy to be recapping American Idol.

You're onto something here. People that watch this show and vote (I watch but don't vote) like Barry Manilow and Stevie Wonder. The posters on this board are not the target demographic. They like Kevin. Kind of like the WWE pushes John Cena on the thirteen year old girl demographic, so does American Idol with Kevin.

I thought Kevin was middle of the pack tonight. He was okay as long as you don't watch him. Listen from behind the television and he sounds pretty good!

Chris was the best, regardless of who arranged the song.

Katherine was next best. She has the purest voice and should be her contest to lose.

Kellie sounded terrific tonight, even if her rendition wasn't as moving as it could have been.

Ace sucked. I don't see what the judges see in him. Big old John Travolta/Vinny Barbarino hair and face man.

Bucky needs to go. Come on. Buddy Holly would be pissed.

Bottom Three should be Bucky, Lisa and Ace, with the Buckmeister headed back east.

I didn't see the show last night (due to being back home, with no local channels), but dialidol.com (which has an 85% accuracy rate) predicts that Bucky, Lisa, and Elliot will be in the bottom three, with Elliot going home. But there's also good possibility that Kevin could be in the bottom three as well.

Originally posted by DarkRenegadeI didn't see the show last night (due to being back home, with no local channels), but dialidol.com (which has an 85% accuracy rate) predicts that Bucky, Lisa, and Elliot will be in the bottom three, with Elliot going home. But there's also good possibility that Kevin could be in the bottom three as well.

It'll be fun hearing the uproar, if this is true.

Turns out dialidol.com was WRONG, but the right person went home. Bye bye, chicken little.

Yes, very glad I was wrong with who went home, and glad Kevin is gone...Although it just feels like it's a matter of time for Lisa...her road could end next week, but I think she's able to outlast Bucky.